4/5/07

A Busy Wednesday

Before I talk about Wednesday, I just thought I'd share my most favorite painting in all the universe. It's called "A Special Moment" by Emile Munier. The little girl looks so much like my Sarah did at that age. I have an original sized framed print of this hanging up in my home.

Yesterday was a lot of fun. At 10am I showed up at my first meeting as a returning member of the Log Cabin Spinners. The topic of discussion was the results of last months Spin-In. I worked on the cursed hat-actually finished it. Sue was working on a gorgeous purple vest with cables down the front in Lopi.

Jennifer brought an electric carder and spent the time carding wool. After I finished the hat I asked her to let me help. She showed me how to pick wool. No--it was not a lesson on picking the best wool for a project. In this case, picking was getting it ready for the carder. Freshly shorn wool is not nice and fluffy. It's matted and kind of lumpy. Picking is pulling and picking at the lumps to fluff them out. We used our hands. There are devices that can be used to do it too.

After spinning, I dashed to Burger King for a quick lunch (yum!), then it was off to Knit Wits. Betty was there, and her friend Darlene-who is a prize grade A nut! She kept me laughing the whole time. It felt so good to be with other knitters laughing and knitting.

I turned in the hat I finished earlier that morning. Decided not to wait a month just so I could put a photo of it here. Sort of silly to do that. I also turned in the other hat I'd made, the afghan, and my precious little Egg. The egg was a hit, naturally.

Someone brought the must scrumptious cookies. They had chocolate chips and dried cranberries in them, but there was a definite butterscotch flavor to them too. Wish I could have the recipe.

I took along my book called Toy Knits by Debbie Bliss. Picked out a lovely dark teal colored yarn to make a pig and started working on it. The yarn is a 100% acrylic made by Caron that is so incredibly soft it's almost like working with cashmere. A stuffed toy should be soft and cuddly, so I'm quite pleased with it. I picked out a couple skeins of peach to use for doll faces, and some lavender and white variegated to make a second pig when this one is done-or maybe a sheep.

The pig pattern is fun. It's done entirely in garter stitch. The pattern calls for DK and size 3 needles. I'm using worsted weight and size 5. I wanted it to be bigger than the pattern size, and this is the easiest way to do that. I'm using size 5 with worsted weight because it's a good idea to knit the fabric a little tighter than normal. Toys need a firmer fabric so you can stuff them firmly without the stuffing showing through the stitches.

After Knit Wits I went shopping. I visited Joann's Fabric and Craft and Creative Beads looking for items needed to do the choker necklace I'm making for the class. I found the perfect bail at Joann's-as well as some cool hairy yarn on clearance to use for Knit Wit projects, and a beading book. I was unable to find a gold colored box clasp though. I want it gold colored, and square. Struck out on both counts. I have a round gold one in my stash. I might just go ahead and use it.

Of course, I haven't tried the bead shops in Spokane, WA. Might want to do that before I give up. Well, I better get busy on that necklace. I want to have it done in a few days so I can put it on display at the shop.